Plastering over artex

[SPROG]

Hi
I've recently done a plastering course and have done a few jobs for friends and family with good results.
Another friend would like me to plaster his hall stairs and landing which has artex on the walls and ceilings. i'm not sure what the pattern is called but its basically ridged (upto 10mm in places).
He wants to leave skirting and architrave in place. Would it be best to undercoat it first to loose the artex or skim over ridges and apply second coat.
Or scrape back and apply two coat skim.
He doesn't want the ceilings doing so how can i get a good finish where the wall meets the ceiling due to the undulations.
Also are there any problems i need to know about plastering over artex,bubbles cracking etc.
I've allowed for 5days so this may have some bearing on the best approach.

calling all experts.

 

[Richard C]

I would not attempt to plaster any wall with the architrave & skirting still in place. I've been removing all mine & if your careful not to damage it, you can strip, re-paint & refit the original as good as new; I've been using a trade grab adhesive on the skirting. 10mm is a lot to make up with finishing plaster & there is a big risk it will craze & crack. I've sucessfully skimmed a couple of my Artex stipple ceilings but I would be a bit concerned about the adhesion of artex that thick! I would strip it back & apply a 2 coat skim then at least you will have a reasonably flat base to work on. I've done this on a couple of mine; Artex is water soluble so can be stripped using a steamer & scraper once you've removed the paint, again with the steamer.

 

[noseall]

on severely undulating artex patterns we tend to use a scratch coat of thistle bonding to help level up the surface then the usual two coat finish.

you don't have to wait until the bonding coat is thoroughly dry but it has to be firm enough to have suction. same day skimming is not at all unusual.